Letters to the Editor for November 2, 2017

Let’s make America healthy

To the Editor:

Recently I attended a seminar on nutrition. They talked about the necessity of receiving the Minimum Daily Requirement (MDR) of calories and vitamins, and the danger of exceeding the Upper Limit (UL), getting too much. It seems to me that the same applies to money.

If a person lacks an MDR of money, they can’t acquire the resources to live. And if a person exceeds the UL, it is damaging to them (and, regarding money, to the society as well). And just as a good parent makes sure that their children receive the MDR and don’t exceed the UL regarding nutrition, a good government makes sure that the people have the MDR of money and don’t exceed the UL.

How does a government do it, by “governing,” (i.e. regulating the economy so that these two requirements are met). And governments do “create” the economy, not some mythical “free market.” Our current economy fails to provide the MDR, and does nothing to keep its members under the toxic UL. It is toxic for three reasons, a) because the wealth of the wealthy comes from impoverishing the poor, b) because the lust for wealth makes a person greedy, insensitive and mean, and c) because a society with gross inequality of wealth and income leads to frustration, anger, fear, bigotry and violence, which we see every day.

Part of the solution involves taxing the rich, those exceeding the UL, and investing in the economy (they aren’t doing it). Trump seems to concede this with his tax proposal that doesn’t give them more. So I say, let’s make America healthy again. Now that’s a change we can believe in.

Phil Nichols

Groveland

Board game donations

To the Editor:

About two weeks ago, our Sonora Elementary after-school Board Game Club received a very thoughtful gift; it was the deluxe edition of the board game “Latice.” We tried it out and it is really fun to play!

We have no idea who our mysterious benefactor is, but our theory is that it’s probably someone who read about our club in the paper.

By means of this letter we want to thank our mystery donor, as well as all those who supported us in creating the club.

Also, thanks to Giuseppe Ricapito and Maggie Beck for coming to a club meeting and reporting about it (and taking the time to play a round of chess with us!)